(Press-News.org)
Youth mental health in urban environments is significantly better when more nature is incorporated into city design.
A new study from University of Waterloo researchers suggests that forest bathing, the simple method of being calm and quiet amongst the trees, observing nature around you while breathing deeply, can help youth de-stress and boost health and well-being.
The study was the first ever to collect on-site, real-time survey data from adolescents about their emotional responses to various urban environments like a transit hub, residential streets, trails, parks, and waterways. Natural urban spaces were consistently related to significantly higher scores in positive outcomes.
"While the findings may not be surprising to most people, what's significant is that for the first time, we're able to specifically say this is how much anxiety is reduced when kids are by a park as opposed to by a city centre," said Leia Minaker, associate professor in the School of Planning and director of the Future Cities Initiative.
The Future Cities Initiative is the latest in the University of Waterloo's efforts to address the need to create healthy and prosperous urban futures for all.
After standing and looking at an urban lake for just two or three minutes, youth scores on a validated anxiousness scale decreased by nine per cent. On the other hand, their anxiousness scores were 13 per cent higher when standing in a busy downtown location for the same length of time. This is after adjusting for several other factors, including age, gender, ethnicity, mental health diagnosis, and social status.
With urbanization accelerating rapidly, it's vital to understand urban environments' impact on youth better. Especially given that depression and anxiety are among the leading causes of illness among adolescents.
The study found that nature motifs or patterns on buildings, natural sights in urban environments, such as lakes and public activity parks, and landscape elements, like gardens and trees, enhance positive emotional experiences for youth. While these urban characteristics are unique to adolescents, they might be interpreted differently from adults who pursue other activities. For example, adults might be more likely to walk or run in green spaces, whereas youth are more likely to skateboard or hang out.
In designing cities with health and sustainability for all age groups in mind, these findings provide clear evidence that planners, city builders, and healthcare providers can use to advocate for specific natural urban design features.
"Teens are frequently excluded from any kind of decision about the cities they live in," Minaker said. "It's important to get their opinions and quantify their experiences because childhood experiences influence many long-term health and disease outcomes."
The researchers' next step will be to find a link in the mental health data to the long-term economic and social impacts. Future research will assess the mental and physical health of kids living in high-rise apartment buildings, another area of research that is poorly understood in North America.
The study, Associations between real-time, self-reported adolescent mental health and urban and architectural design concepts, was recently published in Cities & Health.
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The National Science Foundation awarded Grant Shields, assistant professor of psychological science at the U of A, with a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development award to support his research on the cognitive mechanisms and processes underlying inhibitory control under stress.
Inhibitory control is the means by which automatic urges, emotions and behaviors, like wanting to tell your boss what you really think about being asked to work Saturday, are controlled to produce (ideally) better outcomes (yes, you’ll work Saturday because the need for a paycheck outweighs the desire ...
On February 7, 2024, BESTMAP marked the end of the four-year project with a significant Final Dissemination Event in Brussels, Belgium. Titled "Research Lessons to Inform Future CAP Reform," the event was coordinated by project partners - RISE Foundation in collaboration with BESTMAP's sister projects within the AGRIMODELS cluster, all under the Forum for the Future of Agriculture initiative.
The event addressed concerns about the ongoing decline of biodiversity in Europe and the unmet environmental goals despite annual spending of €12.1 billion on environmentally oriented measures within the CAP. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a crucial role ...
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- Hundreds of robots zip back and forth across the floor of a colossal robotic warehouse, grabbing items and delivering them to human workers for packing and shipping. Such warehouses are increasingly becoming part of the supply chain in many industries, from e-commerce to automotive production.
However, getting 800 robots to and from their destinations efficiently while keeping them from crashing into each other is no easy task. It is such a complex problem that even the best path-finding algorithms struggle to keep up with the breakneck pace of e-commerce or manufacturing.
In a sense, ...
Dartmouth researchers report they have developed the first smartphone application that uses artificial intelligence paired with facial-image processing software to reliably detect the onset of depression before the user even knows something is wrong.
Called MoodCapture, the app uses a phone's front camera to capture a person's facial expressions and surroundings during regular use, then evaluates the images for clinical cues associated with depression. In a study of 177 people diagnosed with major depressive disorder, the app correctly identified early symptoms of depression with 75% accuracy.
These results suggest the technology could be publicly ...
People living in ancient Eastern Arabia appear to have developed resistance to malaria following the appearance of agriculture in the region around five thousand years ago, a new study reveals.
DNA analysis of the remains of four individuals from Tylos-period Bahrain (300 BCE to 600 CE) - the first ancient genomes from Eastern Arabia - revealed the malaria-protective G6PD Mediterranean mutation in three samples.
The discovery of the G6PD Mediterranean mutation in ancient Bahrainis suggests that many people in ...
PITTSBURGH, Feb. 27, 2024 – Bariatric surgery is more effective than medical and lifestyle modifications for achieving long-term Type 2 diabetes control and remission, according to new research led by a University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine surgeon-scientist and published today in JAMA.
In the largest and longest randomized follow-up study to date, the researchers also found that bariatric surgery improved cholesterol and triglyceride levels more effectively than did medical and lifestyle modifications. Since diabetes and cholesterol are important risk factors for heart disease, the management of both may contribute to fewer heart attacks, strokes and other complications.
“This ...
About The Study: After 7 to 12 years of follow-up, individuals originally randomized to undergo bariatric surgery compared with medical/lifestyle intervention had superior glycemic control with less diabetes medication use and higher rates of diabetes remission.
Authors: Anita P. Courcoulas, M.D., of the University of Pittsburgh, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jama.2024.0318)
Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict ...
About The Study: In this study, only health care workers in higher-earning occupations (e.g., registered nurses, physicians, and managers) experienced increases in annual income after state-level Medicaid expansion, which has been shown to improve health care organization finances. These findings suggest that improvements in health care sector finances may increase economic inequality among health care workers, with implications for worker health and well-being.
Authors: Sasmira Matta, M.H.S., of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: ...
About The Study: The findings of this study of 173,000 adult patients who died with cancer suggest that the COVID-19 pandemic was associated with amplified socioeconomic disparities in death at home and specialized palliative care delivery at the end of life. Future research should focus on the mechanisms of these disparities and on developing interventions to ensure equitable and consistent specialized palliative care access.
Authors: Camilla Zimmermann, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D., of the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre in Toronto, is the corresponding ...
About The Study: This study of routine screening with fecal occult blood testing found a 14% decrease in colorectal cancer mortality associated with screening. The true association of screening with reduced mortality is expected to be higher due to some coexistence of testing in the control group and colorectal cancer deaths diagnosed more than two years after screening.
Authors: Johannes Blom, M.D., Ph.D., of the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, is the corresponding author.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The ...